The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: VSS on September 05, 2015, 07:20:35 pm
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Well, our third LR Discovery has come to the end of its road. We just wear them out.
Now, before anyone starts on with a load of Landy jokes, I'll just say that we've found them to be extremely practical, and ideal for our situation - part family car, part work vehicle. But we do work them hard and do a lot of heavy towing and I'm not that hot on maintenance.
Trouble is, what to do now. MOT runs out on Tuesday, and the next few weeks are our busiest with sheep sales, so need to be able to tow. To put this Disco back on the road would cost substantially more than the vehicle is worth, and would take a couple of weeks to do, so that's a non-starter, and there's no funds in the kitty for a replacement vehicle of any sort.
So, I'm looking at contract hire options. Seems a no-brainer in a way, as the monthly payments would total in a year no more than we've currently been paying in mechanics bills just to keep the disco going. Plus the benefit of a brand new vehicle - no MOT etc.
Trouble is, most of the suitable vehicles I can find available on these schemes at affordable rates are double-cab pick-ups, which I can't stand! But that's a minor point - I'm sure I could get used to driving a horrible looking vehicle if it wasn't costing me too much!
Would be interested to hear of anyone else's experience of sourcing their vehicles in this way - good points / bad points, and any recommendations.
Also, what about finance lease (where you end up owning the vehicle)? I don't think this is really an option for me as I wouldn't be able to afford the final payout, but would be interested to hear the pros and cons, and how it compares financially with contract hire.
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To my logic any lease or lease purchase has to work out worse than buying on the grounds that the assorted companies involved all want to take a wedge. Except where seriosu business factors and tax reclaims and cashflow allow for a benefit and the investment in other money earning equipments.
As to wearing them out...that depends on what you're doig and whether it's the right vehicle for that work..perhaps a tractor and trailer for the rough county stuff and a compromise for the road stuff.
As it happens I went into the wrong dealerhsip last week..and ended up in http://greatwallmotor.co.uk/ (http://greatwallmotor.co.uk/)
It's chinese but hopefully better than my chinese quadbike. BUT if the warranty details are good enough and you don't mind lots of plastic inside..their motors are primarily towing machines, cheap but lousy acceleration - on a farm you're not racing off the lights. the seats were comfy and bags of headroom.
I'm not saying it's the right vehicle for you..you have to choose.. but for what you get they are cheap and may well be worth a punt.
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I could go for one of these. Is it a rebadged Mitsubishi or something?
Our neighbour bought a Landrover a couple of years ago - the engine is shot now, it's out of warranty and a new engine is £14,000 :o
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We have an R reg. Diahatsu FourTrak. Not made any more and it's starting to rust around the edges but tough as old boots, turns on a sixpence and has never failed to start. It even has air conditioning - it's called a window winder.
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I'm sticking with my old Defender because it's the only thing that can do everything I need it to. However the missus has a new fiesta on one of these lease/purchase type deals. There was no deposit and the monthly payments are less than it would have cost to buy one on the drip. When the two year deal runs out she'll just swap it in for another new one. Can't go wrong. My only concern about doing that type of deal with a working vehicle is that they might have a different idea of what condition it would be in after a couple of years than what it might actually be in and that could have financial implications.